Babies, Babies, Everywhere!

What is best about this time of year? No, it's not 100+ Texas temps. This always seems to be the time of year that my friends are having adorable, chubby cheeked, bundles of joy! That's right, babies!

I have been going back and forth for the past few weeks. I've been praying for some babies to not come early & others to put in their long awaited appearance. It's been tough to keep it all straight lately. One day last week I was desperately praying for a set of twin girls not to come early at 26 weeks & praying for another little boy who was overdue. Thankfully God was watching out for all 3 babies. One arrived safely & the other 2 are safely inside their mom who is no longer in labor but in the hospital on bed rest.

This July/August baby boom has had my sewing machine working overtime testing patterns & getting baby gifts ready. (I openly apologize to my family who hasn't eaten at our dinner table in a week because it has been overtaken with fabric & sewing things! Sorry!) I'm making lasagna tomorrow for a friend who had her baby last week and will probably be making another meal for a different friend who had her baby a few days ago.

I got a good laugh from my daughter earlier this afternoon. She said she wanted someone to have a girl baby because she was tired of watching me make things for boy babies. Needless to say, I had a good laugh!

As soon as my wonderful husband gets home, we're off to see another friend who was just admitted to the hospital for pregnancy complications. The baby, another boy, is still 3 weeks early. High blood pressure has caused his mom to develop a retinal hemmorage in her eye. They may deliver the baby as soon as this evening. I'm praying for a safe arrival for mom & baby with no further complications!

Happy Crafternoon

Fabric has been stacking up for months. So many projects...sew little time. Add a broken ironing board to the mix and things start to look hopeless. But then I found a project that would help end my misery and get me back to the sewing machine in record speed. What was this miracle project you ask? A tabletop ironing board!

I found a video tutorial at Missouri Star Quilt Company.


It was quick & easy and turned out great. But I really should have used it to iron the fabric cover before I took the pictures. Oops!


The whole thing cost less than $10 & Home Depot even cut the board to the size I needed. The bonus was that I had an extra piece of board left after the cutting that I could use to help keep my cutting mat from warping while it's not in use. I love the fact that it is the same size as my cutting mat. That way I can just put the ironing board & cutting mat in the carrying bag I made to take them both to a class or a get together.


Now if I can just get through a few more projects this weekend, I will be really happy! For some reason my friends all decided to get pregnant around the same time and the due dates are all coming up quickly. I have lots of baby stuff to make but I can't really complain about it...it's all just so darn cute!

Machine Envy

I've been doing a lot more sewing lately than I have in the past. I made the mistake of stopping at the sewing machine shop inside JoAnns the other day when I was buying some fabric. I was looking for a special presser foot for my ancient Singer. The machine is about 15 years old and still in pretty good condition but it doesn't do anything other than straight stitch and zig zag plus it's very noisy. It's a work horse and it's been good to me but I'm a little more advanced than it is and I am thinking it's about time to trade up.

So now, I have machine envy. There are all these beautiful, shiny, computerized machines that just call out to me as I pass by...

"You don't have a serger but I have an overlock function...it's so useful when making kids clothes."

"I have 40 decorative stitches."

"You can design your own embroidery patterns with my special software".

So far, I haven't given in. But I feel I'm starting to break! I found what I thought was a fantastic deal for a steal of a price last week. Turns out it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. It wasn't even made by the manufacturer name that was stamped on the case. No online support either, a HUGE deal breaker for me.

I found a machine I think I will like at a price I can afford. The hard part now is finding a local dealer who sells it so I can actually try it out before I buy it. It's a pretty advanced machine but low end for a computerized one. I'd rather buy it from a sewing shop and spend a few extra $$ for a sewing lesson or 2 they usually throw in with a purchase. I'd rather not buy from a big box chain who could care less that I'm buying it in the first place.

I'm taking a beginning quilting class tomorrow. I'll have a better idea of my need for a new machine if I decide to get serious about quilting. Me, get serious about anything? (You can't hear me but I'm laughing like crazy now!)